Author: Bill Fleming

BALTIMORE — Mary Ihezie and Rapheal Olumakinde were among the 25 nursing students honored at the Baltimore City Community College’s pinning ceremony for the Class of Fall 2016 on December 20, 2016. Among the graduating class, 17 associate degrees and eight Practical Nursing certificates were conferred.

Courtesy Photo/BCCC

BCCC Associate Degree in Nursing graduate Rapheal Olumakinde with his wife, Temmy and new son, Saint.

For Mary Ihezie, it was a chance to become a registered nurse (RN) after working for some time as a licensed practical nurse (LPN). With her degree, she will pursue her interests in either psychiatric or obstetric nursing after she takes the state board exams to earn an RN license.

“For me this is not just a job, but a lifestyle,” she said. “Education is abundant in my family and we take it seriously.”

Ihezie plans on staying in Maryland as she seeks to join the busy corps of practicing healthcare professionals in this area.

For Rapheal Olumakinde, it’s the culmination of years of interest in the healthcare field, which became crystallized when he attended a nursing orientation session BCCC. With his newfound credential, which took him a little over two years to complete, Rapheal will build on his experiences in CPR and as a correctional officer with the State of Maryland, to transition into emergency room care.

“I like the dynamics, I guess it’s the adrenaline of delivering direct care which can make a difference in the life of a patient and bring calm to a dire situation,” said Rapheal.

Now that he is a new father, he says his advancement in this field will help him to support his growing family. He plans to continue working toward his bachelor’s and master’s degrees with the ultimate goal of becoming a nurse practitioner, a more advanced level in the profession, which carries administrative responsibilities.

“My husband loves God and is devoted to his family,” said his proud wife, Temmy.

BCCC offers a two-year, associate’s degree in nursing and a shorter, three-semester practical nursing certification. Both programs are designed to provide first-generation college students in Baltimore City with the opportunity to prepare for a knowledge-based career. The associate degree program, is accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN); both the associate degree and certificate programs are approved by the Maryland Board of Nursing.

Congratulations to all Class of Fall 2016 graduates!

BALTIMORE — West Baltimore native and Baltimore Polytechnic Institute graduate Brittany Young struggled during her first year of college at the University of Maryland but that didn’t keep her from participating in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) revolution and becoming a leader in her field.

Kirenia Sera-Viguera grew up in Cuba and had to learn English from scratch, but she tapped into math and science to garner one of the top 10 spots in her graduating class at Patterson High School, enroll as a STEM Scholar at Baltimore City Community College (BCCC) and become an accomplished student of architecture at Morgan State University.

Shalini Malaki earned her associate’s degree in biotechnology at BCCC and a bachelor of science degree in medical and research technology at the University of Maryland Baltimore before attaining her master’s in public policy from Georgetown University. She has conducted virology research in hopes of stopping a deadly form of typhoid fever in her native country of Nigeria.

Young, Sera-Viguera, and Malaki couldn’t have hailed from more different circumstances or places. Yet, their unlikely paths would cross for a brief moment at BCCC’s supercharged math and science cohort.

The three united again on Saturday, November 12, 2016 for BCCC’s 4th annual STEM Community Day, a host venue for the second statewide Maryland STEM Festival. The three-hour event included a panel discussion on which they were invited to share their experiences and success.

So what’s it like to be a woman in this very male-dominated field?

“People’s expectations are we’re not a good fit,” Brittany said of her experience with being a woman in a male-dominated field. But to her, the terrain is not unfamiliar. “I had people telling me I couldn’t do stuff since I was in first grade. If I let that discourage me, I would have dropped out of the University of Maryland.”

The first year of college was tough for Brittany. She ended up with a 1.1 GPA at College Park. But she enrolled at BCCC and proceeded to do some amazing things: internships and job experiences at McCormick & Co., NASA and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. She had the opportunity to conduct satellite and planetary research. In fact, she was the intern who discovered the Mickey Mouse feature on the planet Mercury.

The story was the subject of a Jeanne Moos TV report on CNN and made major media around the world. Today, she has come full circle, working to bring STEM concepts to the dirt bike culture in Baltimore for creative applications, video games and other resources local bikers might find interesting. She hopes her work will contribute to increase interest in pursuing STEM careers among young people West Baltimore.

“English was not my first language so that was a big challenge,” Kirenia said. “But I got through that because my real interest was math and science. I think the biggest thing is time management. That’s very important to my success.”

Kirenia finds herself constantly engaged by her study program at Morgan State to produce architectural models and recommendations using actual parcels of land slated for development. She even acquires old houses as investments with her father, the interiors of which she completely demos and remodels. She knows how to remediate lead paint in old houses and sometimes does this for charity. All in all, it has made for a busy life.

Shalini reflected how her science education and public policy degree might be regarded as vastly different undertakings, but it was all in the interest of public health.

“At first sight it might seem my degree in Biotechnology, a hard science and my degree in Public Policy, a social science are an unlikely pair,” Shalini said. “However, the pressing needs of international development and global health require an understanding of biological events in order to help shape effective social and policy-related responses.”

According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the estimated number of STEM jobs in the U.S. is expected to grow by 13 percent between 2012 and 2022, to nine million positions.

BCCC is a growing provider of STEM training and transfer education. Students can earn a two-year associate degree in Robotics Technology, Engineering Transfer and Biotechnology. BCCC launched its new Cyber Security and

Assurance associate degree and certificate programs in response to the burgeoning demand for experts in data security.

Through these programs, BCCC students can transfer to a four-year institution or immediately enter the workforce. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary for entry-level cyber security professionals starts at approximately $88,000.

Last year, BCCC received a $750,000 grant from the NASA Minority University Research and Education Project. The goal of the grant is to increase the number of STEM classes available at minority-serving community colleges and to provide STEM educator training. BCCC plans to use the $750,000 to increase the success rate and workforce development of underrepresented students such as women, African Americans and disadvantaged veterans enrolled in its engineering-related programs.

White House Fellow, Army veteran, best-selling author and social entrepreneur Wes Moore gave a rousing talk at Baltimore City Community College (BCCC) Wednesday, January 13, 2016, as he called on educators to combine advocacy, mentorship and social capital to move inner-city youth forward in a challenging age.

“How can we give more students the advocacy, and get more institutions to graduate students?” Moore asked members of the audience, comprised of faculty and staff of the college who came together for a day of staff development prior to the start of the spring semester.

“This is what led us to found BridgeEdU (www.bridgeedu.com)” he said, describing the program he started to assist young people to make the transition from high school to college, provide experiential learning through internships and ensure success by democratizing the pathway to college completion.

Moore, author of The New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, “The Other Wes Moore” spoke of his own difficulty early in life finding a path.

“What did I want to do? I didn’t have a context,” he said. “I realized it was all about finding a way to gain experiences which could connect with my true passions.” And connect with those passions he did— as a Johns Hopkins University Phi Beta Kappa graduate, Rhodes scholar at Oxford University, and White House Fellow serving former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Before this foray into the arena of peacemaking, he was an Army combat veteran in Afghanistan.

“Getting our kids into the game is more than just education,” he said. “It’s also about the critical relationships they will need. This social capital has to be developed, nurtured and accelerated.”

BALTIMORE — When Petra Gonzalez moved to Baltimore with her family from Titusville, Florida, she got a quick start at Baltimore City Community College pursuing her interest in early childhood education. She was also able to find work as a housekeeping staff member in the college facilities department.

Under the guidance of BCCC Assistant Professor Cortez Walker, coordinator of the Business Administration, Management and Marketing programs at BCCC who helps oversee the Passport Student Leadership/Entrepreneurship Development Program, Petra began to grasp how she could someday own and operate her own daycare center.

Petra, who graduates from BCCC in December with an associate degree in Early Childhood Education, says the Passport program’s regular presentations from Small Business Administration speakers and other experts helped solidify her understanding of how to strike out on her own.

“I needed ideas,” she said. “The Passport program connected me to some practical advice on how to turn my interests into a realistic business model.”

Student participants in the Passport Program meet once per month during the school year to discuss a specific topic including learning leadership skills, entrepreneurship success factors, financial literacy and how to create wealth. Speakers have included Victor Clark Jr., director of Small Business Development for the State of Maryland, and several speakers from the Baltimore District Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration, who shared perspectives on the agency’s Small Business Assistance programs and other topics.

“This is an extracurricular activity available to all students,” says Professor Walker. “Those who participate in the entire program will receive a Leadership/Entrepreneurship Certificate which can be used when transferring to a four-year college or university, or applying for a job in a business, nonprofit or governmental organization,” he said.

A few weeks ago, Celebree Learning Centers was so impressed with Petra and the level of expertise she acquired at BCCC that they offered her a job, not just as an aide, one of the usual ways you start at Celebree but as a Lead Teacher. Congratulations, Petra!

For more information about how to kick-start your career and build valuable contacts and ideas through the Passport Entrepreneurship at BCCC, email:

Professor Cortez Walker at cwalker@bccc.edu or 410-462-7695.

BCCC welcomed student science and math wizards and their variety of fascinating projects on Saturday, November 22, 2014 to the college’s second annual STEM Community Day. In addition to drawing some 300 attendees from BCCC and the Baltimore community, the occasion was the perfect opportunity for students to meet with representatives from area colleges and universities, companies involved in the STEM fields and BCCC STEM faculty and staff.

John Lucas, a military veteran who drove a truck for 15 years before enrolling in the STEM Scholars program, plans to use what he learned at BCCC to attend the University of Baltimore. Raphael Outlaw, vice president of the student Engineering Club, attended no formal high school before enrolling at BCCC but says the STEM Scholars gave him much-needed direction.

For more information about the BCCC STEM Scholars program, where students are eligible for up to $4,150 per academic year in scholarships, contact Professor Marianna Gleger at 410-462-7790.